Livestock calls taking up 20 percent of Sevier County Sheriff’s time

Livestock calls are taking up a lot of time for deputies in Sevier County.

According to a report from the Sevier County Sheriff’s Office of yearly totals, deputies responded to 238 livestock calls, 45 horses out and 73 other animal problems in 2018.

Sheriff Nate Curtis says this amounts to about 20 percent of their time.

“So over one fifth,” Curtis says. “And this year, there was a little bit of an uptick in it, so it’s a concern for all of us.”

Curtis also says, other numbers in the county for crime and arrests are down from past years. But that too, could be connected to the number of animal calls.

“We spend so much time on chasing the horses and the cows and different things like that–when we see our numbers rise in those areas, it takes time away from being able to do traffic stops and some of those other things.”

Curtis says he’s working with the Farm Bureau to incentivize livestock owners to take care of their fences.